Eastern Illinois University graduate student Audra Clodfelter received the Top Student Paper Award from the Public Relations Division of the Central States Communication Association.

Clodfelter’s award-winning paper “Responding to Boston: Improving Marathon Reputations and Stakeholder Relations through Pre-Crisis Communication” analyzes the strategic communication of the World Marathon Majors series after the attacks in Boston. Clodfelter presented her paper at CSCA’s annual meeting on April 16 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Clodfelter also presented original research in the Media Studies Interest Group. Her paper “Why Can’t Watson Be a Bear? Examining the Uses and Gratifications of Sherlock Fanfiction” used audience data to explore the gratifications sought and obtained from creating fanfiction.

Currently pursuing a Master of Arts degree in EIU’s Department of Communication Studies, Clodfelter specializes in strategic and organizational communication. She developed her public relations research in the graduate class of Dr. Matthew Gill and media studies research with Dr. Scott Walus.

If you’ve paid any attention to my twitter feed lately, you’ve probably noticed tweets about panic attacks and graduate school. While I am nervous at the prospect of returning to academia, I am also positively excited. I am in the middle of my first week of classes and I am a bit overwhelmed, a little tired, but very happy. It’s wonderful being back in an atmosphere of learning, sharing ideas, and engaging in discussion about rhetoric, public relations, ideology, etc. Will this road have bumps? Yes. Will the long nights grow old? Definitely. I feel as though the excitement of being in a graduate program will carry me through the harder times. Or, that’s what I’m telling myself for now…

Currently Reading: Countdown City by Ben Winters; The Resurrectionist by E.B. Hudspeth; and Life After Life by Atkinson (audiobook) …and many, many, many journal articles…

Here’s what got this started. A co-worker of mine called and asked if I still had a personality sorter from training in 2010. Three years ago. I got married and moved three times since then. And..yes, I still had the stupid personality sorter. I have to admit my problem: I cannot throw things away.

I have just returned from a wonderful vacation visiting two dear friends, Jessica and Joel. They’ve recently made Austin, Texas their home and have been encouraging me to visit the city they have grown to love. I had the opportunity to take a week off from work and decided to go. I love spending time with Jessica and Joel. Not only are they great hosts (who make excellent coffee), but they also take me to neat places, introduce me to new books and movies, and did I mention the coffee?

A few months ago I reviewed Ben H. Winters’ novel, The Last Policeman from Quirk. The book has recently been nominated for an Edgar award and to celebrate, the good folks at Quirk are having a sale! For a limited time, you can buy the eReader version of this book for $2.99. Check out QuirkBooks for more information.

Part 2 (City Countdown) of the trilogy will be released in July, so this sale gives you the perfect opportunity to catch up on the life and work of Detective Henry Palace.

I recently decided to commit to a Goodreads challenge (well, a self-imposed challenge on Goodreads) to read 30 books in 2013. I’ve set two ground rules: these books must be read (not listened to on audiobook) and they must be fiction (academic books are not going to count for the simple reason that I will have to read academic text books rather than reading them for fun).

I have completed one book so far this year and I finished it in the first week of January. I read Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams. It is the third book of his Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. I am currently reading So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.

I have four books (Four? Oy vey.) that I have slightly abandoned that I would like to finish or at least continue to work through for this year. I would like to finish at least three of these books: I Only Say This Because I Love You (Deborah Tannen); Made to Crave (author); and The Meaning of Night (author). I am making progress on Middlemarch (George Eliot), but it is long and full of detail. I started it a few years ago, but I can’t make myself finish it. Why? Well, I’m not really sure.

Vanilla gets a bad wrap. “Why eat vanilla ice cream when you could have something with FLAVOR?” It’s a question that so many people ask. And it really makes sense. Vanilla is that “plain Jane,” creamy, white stuff. Right? WRONG.

As previously stated, I absolutely love the Fall season. Now that it is officially here, I’d like to share some of my favorite seasonal items with you. I’ve found a few new treasures and rediscovered a few items that really help me embrace autumn.

Okay, okay. It’s NOT the end of the world, but what if you knew when the end would come. Yes, we have had predictions (remember the Myans? Y2K? That bad John Cusack movie?) but no actual proof.

So, what if scientists discover a giant asteroid headed to Earth and NASA and Bruce Willis were powerless to do anything about it? And what if this asteroid had a precise date of impact? What would you do?